Month: June 2022

I delve into the video library of my mind’s eye to replay an experience for you.

The sun was just above the horizon and the sky was cloudless, it wasn’t rising, yet nor was it about to set, because in late June the sun never sets here. 

We were just outside the small village of Eggum on the Lofoten island of Vestvagoy, about 150 miles north of The Arctic Circle. We sat in the two front seats of our motorhome, and gazed out north across the calm Norwegian Sea, we were transfixed by the midnight sun, which blazed through the huge windscreen of the van turning the inside bright yellow. As we drank our wine, we watched as the sun got to its lowest point just above the horizon, and then start to climb again to signify the start of next day.

At 1am, with the sun continuing its upward path towards the blue sky above, we eventually decided to ‘call it a day’ and reluctantly retired to bed.

I will always treasure that memory of Rachel and me sharing such a special experience and now, this time alone, I head north to hopefully witness the midnight sun again.

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My return from the last bike trip to The Canaries back in spring had me questioning what on earth I was doing travelling alone for six weeks, it was harder for me than I maybe made it look? But despite all the doubts, I’d only been home for a week before I booked this trip, it seems that sitting still, or at least staying in one place, isn’t what I’m cut out for just yet.

So a family weekend break to Suffolk sparked my interest in travel again. Perusing a map of the Bury St Edmunds area, Harwich just jumped out at me! Only an hour’s ride away where there is a ferry link to Rotterdam, the timing was perfect for a midnight sun trip. Let’s face it, if I’m riding all that way down to deepest Suffolk, it seems only natural to continue to The Arctic Circle, don’t you think?

The trip proper doesn’t start until late Monday, but even during the English stage of this pre trip, I still find enjoyment from the scenery and pass through, and people I meet.

Sliding Doors

Rushing through the hotel foyer with the remnants of my luggage I just managed to press the lift button as the doors closed. They immediately opened to reveal just one person in the lift, a small and fairly rotund lady, in her late 70s I would say. I asked her if it was ok for me to share the lift with her, and was surprised to be greeted by the broadest of Australian accents, had I not seen her first I would’ve sworn it was Dame Edna! She welcomed me aboard and in the very short journey to the top floor (of two), we both got a glimpse of each other’s lives. What a lovely friendly lady she was, probably helped by the consumption of a couple of gin and tonics which she confessed in having, not that there was a suggestion of any tipsiness. After the briefest of connections with yet another stranger I smiled inwardly at how lovely most people are. 

The Arctic Adventures of Sven the Moto Moose

Hi,

My name is Sven, I was adopted in Sweden in 2015 by Rachel and Brian, and stayed in the van for all of their remaining travels, but the last two years I’ve just been sitting at home gathering dust.

When Brian said he was heading back to my homeland I pleaded with him to take me. He said on one condition, that I wrote some blog entries. Well I’ve never written a travel blog before but I’ll give it a go, as it’s my ticket north.

Oh, and I’ve also never been on a motorbike before either, so that should be fun! And before you ask, moose are exempt from crash helmets, which is great as it will give my antlers the freedom to waft in the turbulence, hopefully of just the bike!

The appropriately named ‘Polarsteps’ app will go live from Monday 20th June. For those who are interested it’s a live tracking app where I will post photos and brief comments. The blog will run as normal though. Message me (Brian, not Sven) if you want the link.

I’ve either lost it or never had it?!

Despite the three photos suggesting the two of us had come to some agreement, about whatever you imagine, unfortunately the reality wasn’t so promising.

Having threaded my way through a few miles of standing traffic on the A14, I got to the cause of the holdup which, in my humble opinion, was a tuppence ha’penny three lorry skirmish. Although the police officer wanted to agree with my suggestion, she reluctantly rejected it. 🙄

The heart strings were well and truly plucked as I rode away from my family. It will be another month until I see them again, and after spending so much time in their company I anticipated that this would be a difficult moment.

It lived up to expectations, but I had planned how to deal with it, look forward not back. As soon as I’d clicked the bike up into second gear my hand was free (from clutch duties) to wave them farewell.

I’ve hopefully learnt from my Canary Islands trip so I feel a little progression with solo travelling.

Continue reading “Just a quickie (before the ship sails)”

With the hotel name in Copenhagen being CABINN, it shouldn’t have come as any surprise that my room was actually smaller than its namesake on the Stena Britannica ferry! Yes it’s small, and although not perfectly formed, it ticks the ‘box’ for me, so after 550 miles of riding in two days I hope to sleep like a log tonight.

Copenhagen is yet another of those beautiful cities which deserves a few days rather than a few hours. It would be great to stay another day, but I’m on a bit of a mission and this is no holiday!

The ‘well read’ Blog followers will recall that I met Lo and Gina on my last trip whilst on La Gomera. We had only spent about an hour together over lunch, but have stayed in touch since. When they heard I would be travelling through their home town of Hamburg on this trip, they insisted I spent the night with them. 

Tomorrow I take Sven over the Øresund Bridge back to his home country. I have no idea how far we will get before I call it a day, no accommodation booked. I wonder how the day will pan out? 🤔

Maybe we should run a lottery on how many miles we’ll do? 😬

Copenhagen seems a good place.

I departed the hotel by 6.30am, but not before I’d found out how many ‘cabins’ there were in the hotel……1,202 the receptionist assured me! No wonder I got lost almost more times than the hours I spent there, it took me ten minutes of wandering around the garage this morning to eventually relocate Reg!

There was no distance or destination set for today, but on firing Reg up the satnav seemed to take great delight in informing me that it was only 26 hours of continuous riding to the North Cape, no chance! 

Continue reading “Where do I start?”

That pretty much sums up today’s ride, but as usual with me, things aren’t quite as interesting as first appearances suggest. To be more accurate it should be 50 shades of green, but that title wouldn’t have been quite so enticing.

The blue was the sky, the green the trees and the grey the road, that’s pretty much all I saw today.

Riding through Sweden is really strange, big blue skies and a feeling that an expansive view (beyond the trees) will open up as the next crest is reached, but no, hardly ever. Although it seems like the top of a mountain, today I rarely climbed much above sea level. The most expansive view will be the rare occasion when a lake, or the Baltic Sea appears. It didn’t detract from the enjoyment, it’s just different and unexpected, and that’s a reason to travel, the unexpected.

Easy Rider

Today the motorcycle gods were smiling on me!

450 miles of wide open smooth roads, a cloudless blue sky, 25c and no traffic! The only mosquito in the ointment is the oppressive speed limits the Swedes have, but hey, it helps me chill, reduces the impact with a moose (sorry Sven) and gives us a few extra miles from a tank.

I drank in the experience, it was everything I’d hoped for and more! I certainly wasn’t expecting this weather, and so, living a motorcyclist’s dream I’m glad I came, no doubts, not this time.

In the words of Freddie “It’s a tricky situation and I only have myself to blame”

Not quite as ‘sticky a situation as Sticky the stick insect getting stuck on a sticky bun’, but things looked to be going decidedly pear shaped when I was meandering around the previously unheard of town of Alvsbyn in northern Sweden. I’m a novice at ‘winging it’, but was happy to give it a go, to add a bit of spice if nowt else. I’m not used to rolling up at a hotel reception and saying “Do you have a room for the night”? The buzz from “Yes” (without delving into Pamela Stephenson’s American Express sketch) makes me smile inwardly. But not only did I not get a “Yes” in Alvsbyn, I couldn’t even find any accommodation open! Booking.com and Airbnb had nowt in the area. This was the moment it dawned on me that riding through the forested wilderness of northern Sweden Premier Inns do not lie around the every corner! Unlike McDonalds, it seems that Sweden has sold its soul to that food chain giant, and personally I think it flies in the face of much of what the country represents.

The next place any app could guide me to was a further one hour twenty minutes ride north, not a big problem, we already had about 400 miles under the wheels and I was feeling fine. The unusually named town of Jokkmokk, where booking.com reliably informed me of two establishments charging about £80 a night and one £450, was programmed into the satnav. Going by ‘Booking’s’ previous attempt in Alvsbyn I was pondering a night under the stars, but this far north they aren’t visible. So it was looking like no sleep or lying by the bike swatting mozzies off. Undeterred I ventured in the direction of the Scottish named town, whereupon I spied a stunning waterfall! I’m stopping to take a photo of that, and as I got closer I saw a campsite…… then hotel! OMG, the hotel gods are now smiling on me! I didn’t have American Express, but that will do nicely!

The next blog post may be a couple of days, all is well, I’m now in north Norway having passed the Artic Circle in Sweden and a small amount of Finland. Hoping to make the North Cape tonight. Polarsteps updated as I travel and one or two entries on FB but the blog takes more sorting. Will get onto it probably late tomorrow.

I propose a candidate to challenge Barrow-in-Furness for the title of being ‘At the end of the longest cul-de-sac in the world’. My recommendation is The North Cape! A minimum 146 miles, that’s what needs to be ridden each way to reach the end of the most northerly road in Europe. It includes several tunnels ranging from the short, to a four miles long one under the Barents Sea. Three hundred miles of the same road was just the icing on the cake of a day (?) which started at 11.30am on Saturday and finished 26 hours later, after a total of over 800 miles. It was my aim to ride through the night, and with that now done it’s the end of crazy rides and I will absorb the best of Norway on my return south.

At 1.30pm today I managed to find a hotel in the small coastal village of Sørkjosen, the hotel receptionist went from “Yes we have a room, but it’s not ready for check in yet” to “Here’s the key, you can check in now”. Before you start jumping to any conclusions, the only extra included is breakfast, she obviously took pity on seeing this insect splattered disheveled biker!

After quickly relieving Reg of his heavy burden, the panniers, not me, I hit the sack as soon as I could. I’d only just snuggled down when I thought ‘bloody hell, this is more comfortable than lying on a road surface, this bed idea could catch on’! 

I’ve never felt like falling asleep holding handlebars before, but then I’ve never ridden like this before. I had to grab myself two 15 minute power naps, one at 5.30am amongst some rocks in a hollow just off the road, and a second about 9.30am in a lay-by. I would’ve slept longer both times but for some loud grunt that woke me! Strange because there were no animals around, just a ‘Big Bird’. 

The day started back in Storfossen, Sweden, it was sixty miles to the Arctic Circle followed by another 190 to Finland. A temperature in the high twenties combined with all the trees and lakes made a perfect recipe for the wee beasties to engulf me every time I stopped for more than 15 seconds. Either they loved the extra heat rising from Reg’s motor, or they were trying to get revenge for Reg and me murdering their relatives? It made me reluctant to stop other than for fuel, no issues in that department this time, just call it an expert strategy!

The towns I travelled through in northern Sweden and Finland were a bit ‘different’, maybe because it was Saturday that they were ghost towns? Many buildings were bleak and stark, almost as if influenced by the old Soviet Union. Generally the people seemed to be standoffish, not warm or welcoming, but I’d experienced this back in the old Yugoslavia in the 80s, and think it’s more curiosity than unfriendliness.

In Finland I refuelled Reg (bought extra mozzie repellant) and also needed a break myself, so had an ice cream in the small cafe area of the garage, this was a huge mistake! By the next fuel stop in Norway I topped off the ice cream with a coffee and local sausage delicacy, boom! The ice cream was the fuel, the Norwegian fare the blue touch paper! Bloody brilliant, this is all I need, baking hot insect infested countries and me having the….. !🤦🏻‍♂️ Before leaving the garage in Norway I gave their facilities a good seeing to, twice! I’ll spare you the details, but the next two hours were very uncomfortable and painful! Suffice to say that Norway’s excellent ‘long drop’ toilets were a life saver!

Midnight was approaching when I was about a hundred miles south of the North Cape, it would take me another three hours to do that 100 miles but this was the moment I’d come over 2,500 miles to experience. The following photos cover from 11.30pm to 4.30am.

The following photos are from 4.30am until 12.30pm

I have quite a bit of video footage to wade through and the short clips will be contained in a Relive app when I get around to doing it!

If you have a spare few minutes you may like this of the ride up to the North Cape, it contains about ten short videos.